Standard of Living – Madison, Wisconsin

Here is a flyer for the Madison WI Healthcare Town Hall Meeting coming up on Aug. 26th:

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Tags: 2nd congressional distric, chad lee, congress, democrat, john stossel, libertarian, madison wi, republican, tammy baldwin, tim nerenz, u.s. house of representatives

Click on picture above to read full details.

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Tags: 2nd congressional distric, chad lee, congress, democrat, john stossel, libertarian, madison wi, republican, tammy baldwin, tim nerenz, u.s. house of representatives

David Sirota is a journalist fighting an imaginary war of “the left vs. the right” in understanding the Great Depression.  In his imaginary war construct consisting of only two forces in the world, the left and the right, David Sirota succumbs to a force of nature called bias that has lead him to develop a strange strain of anti-intellectualism.  David Sirota’s strain of anti-intellectualism shows “hostility towards intellectuals and intellectual pursuits that have arrived at conclusions that counter leftist/progressive understanding of the Great Depression”.  This is what happens when an individual like David Sirota creates a strawman scenario to do battle in, such as his imaginary “left vs. right” war, so as to relieve oneself of the necessity to participate in reality.  Well, times are tough these days for some, so I guess some will always look for an escape from reality.

David Sirota says of his recent appearance on FOX News:

Fox News is starting its campaign to stop Obama’s big spending plan by stating – as assumed fact – that “historians pretty much agree” that Franklin Roosevelt prolonged the Great Depression, and that therefore, Obama shouldn’t try another New Deal.

[...]If the right wants to try to stop a serious economic recovery package and financial regulations by trying to vilify one of the most popular presidents and popular policy programs in American history, then I’ll say what George Bush once said: Bring it on.

Then Sirota quotes Daniel Gross of the New York Times to help beat down the imaginary forces of the right:

The argument that the New Deal’s efforts “perhaps had prolonged, the Depression,” is a canard. One would be very hard-pressed to find a serious professional historian–I mean a serious historian, not a think-tank wanker, not an economist, not a journalist–who believes that the New Deal prolonged the Depression.  (emphasis added)

David Sirota continues:

[...]these are not “normal people” – those making these arguments are right-wing automatons whose claim that we shouldn’t look at actual data, we should simply accept the truth of their claims because they insist “it’s in the books!” or they’ve supposedly seen “all kinds of studies and academic work” that proves their hysteria true.

Well, Madison WI individuals, here are those professional historians that Sirota and Gross say don’t exist.  This list was provided here by David T. Beito, professor of history at the University of Alabama.  They are professors with doctorates in history from top-ranked universities that according to Beito are “serious professional historians who would probably argue (and argue strongly) that the New Deal prolonged the Depression.”

1. David T. Beito of University of Alabama
2. Jonathan Bean of Southern Illinois University
3. Brad Birzer of Hillsdale College
4. Brad Thompson of Clemson College
5. Jeffrey Hummel at San Jose State University
6. Larry Schweikart of Dayton State University
7. Michael Allen of the University of Washington of Tacoma
8. Ralph Raico of Buffalo State College
9. Burton Folsom of Hillsdale College
10. David Mayer of Capital State University in Columbus
11. John Moser of Ashland University in Ohio
12. Paul Moreno of Hillsdale

And as regards an understanding of the Great Depression, there is no war of the “the left vs. the right“.  David Sirota’s use of a bullshit left-right paradigm is a resort to the False Dilemma fallacy.  I am an individual that is neither a Republican nor from the right (nor the left) but believes after much research that FDR’s New Deal prolonged the Depression.  Sirota is saying that anyone who believes as I do is from the right and are just taking the right’s side in his fantasy “left vs. right” war.  This is false.  David Sirota is the poster child of Great Depression anti-intellectualism and promoter of a false dilemma between the “the left or the right” in understanding the Great Depression.

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Tags: amity shlaes, anti-intellectualism, brad birzer, brad delong, brad thompson, burton folsom, daniel gross, david mayer, david sirota, david t. beito, eric rauchway, false dilemma fallacy, fdr, fox news, great depression, jeffrey hummel, john moser, jonathan bean, larry schweikart, michael allen, monica crowley, new deal, new york times, paul krugman, paul moreno, ralph raico, republican, the left, the right

From the lips of Paul Ryan comes this hilarious take on how to ’solve’ the inflation problem in America:

Due to the serious threat that inflation poses to our economy, I have introduced H.R. 6053, the Price Stability Act. Currently, the Federal Reserve Bank has a dual mandate: to promote full employment as well as price stability. Unfortunately, these goals, while laudable, can lend themselves to contradictory policy responses. For example, we are currently seeing both rising unemployment and increasing inflation. Traditionally, the policy response to rising unemployment would be to lower interest rates to stimulate the economy; however, the response to increasing inflation is to raise interest rates. With these competing aims, the Federal Reserve finds itself in a difficult position.

The Price Stability Act would solve this problem by removing the dual mandate. It would instead give the Federal Reserve only one mandate – to maintain price stability. It is important to recognize that, by virtue of its control of monetary policy, the Fed is the only institution that can control inflation over the long-run. By providing stable and foreseeable prices, businesses and individuals are better able to plan for the future and provide continued growth for our economy. Additionally, stable prices would ensure the continued buying power of our wages.

(Full article here.)

Wow, what a complete waste of time and effort trying to solve the inflation problem, not to mention a very socialist attitude regarding the creation of money.  It appears that the only political party left to defend freedom in commerce is the Libertarian Party.  The Republican parasite Paul Ryan is holding fast to Keynesian junk science regarding the viability of price stability through government manipulation of interest rates and printing presses.  I guess this big government worshiper doesn’t understand that price stability can never happen.  Prices always fluctuate to reflect the new information regarding the supply of and demand for the Earth’s natural resources.  However, maybe Paul Ryan is more intelligent than I give him credit for.  It is possible that in wanting ‘price stability’ he is referring to getting rid of or reducing the continuing rise of prices of most products in the market (which uninformed pseudo-economists incorrectly call inflation).  Well, then again we find that Paul Ryan is still misinformed about proper economics.  If he is wanting to get rid of the continuous rise in the general price level, than his Price Stability Act surely will be a failure.  Paul Ryan wants the Federal reserve to have only one mandate—control inflation.  Now this is absolutely hilarious for it is the Federal Reserve itself which inflates the money supply and causes the subsequent rise in the general price level!  Mr. Paul Ryan, how in hell is the Federal Reserve going to control price increases when it is the Federal Reserve’s  very existence that causes the rise in the general price level!?!?!?  Well, politicians aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the world.  What is so disastrous about this entire comedy is that it is Republican idiots like Paul Ryan who preach about the glories of free markets but have no idea what in the hell that means!  What is needed is for more libertarians to run for office to obtain a platform to reach broader audiences to put people like Paul Ryan in his place.  Call him out.  Tell the public what he really is so that Republican shams like him stop calling socialist policies the ‘free market’.  We need true free market libertarians to shout from the rooftop that these big-government-loving Republicans hate the free market for money and love their twisted socialist/fascist monetary schemes.

This great book, What Has Government Done To Our Money?, by Murray Rothbard shows the futility of the Federal Reserve controlling the continuous rise in the general price level.  Here and below are some true monetary free market lovers shouting it loud and clear!

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Tags: big-government, Fascism, Federal Reserve, free market money, h.r. 6053 price statability act, inflation, interest rates, liberarian, libertarian party, murray rothbard, paul ryan, price stability, printing press, republican, socialism, what has government done to our money